194 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



Pinart's description of the graves and the disposition of the gold objects differs 

 somewhat from the foregoing (see p. 12). He speaks of certain graves with walls 

 made of flat slabs set upright ; and the cover, a great stone slab. In these the 

 pottery and stone objects were found toward the center, while the human bones 

 were placed without apparent order along the walls, the gold, if there was any, 

 always being with the bones. The other type mentioned by Pinart consisted of 

 a more rudely constructed vault, into the walls of which were built recesses or 

 niches, each one lined with and covered by flat slabs of stone. Here the pottery 

 and stone objects were placed in the vault, and the gold in the niches. 



The gold images of Chiriqui are a source of wonder and admiration to every 

 beholder. A careful study of them serves to throw new light on the mythology 

 and artistic skill of the ancient race, without lessening appreciably the mystery 

 that envelopes the methods they employed in order to arrive at such splendid 

 results. For the most part, they seem to have used alloys of gold with copper, 

 ranging practically from pure gold on the one hand to pure copper on the other. 

 A small percentage of silver is present in some specimens, one being the large 

 figure of a parrot illustrated in figure 353. Dr. C. H. Mathewson of the Hammond 

 Metallurgical Laboratory at Yale analyzed two of the specimens illustrated in this 

 work (see PI. XLIX, fig. g and text-fig. 370) and found them to be nearly pure 

 gold, the only alloy being copper. The alloys often appear to be natural. In 

 some cases, very effective figurines were produced by only slight alterations in 

 the shape of nuggets or masses of the native metal (see figs. 363 and 364). A 

 great majority of the pieces however were cast, either wholly or in part. Some 

 are constructed from a number of separate castings which were afterwards welded 

 together. Others are cast as a unit, certain parts of which as tail, wings or 

 feet being altered later by hammering. This class includes perhaps the largest 

 number of specimens. The accessible surfaces, especially those on the half intended 

 to* be seen, are carefully burnished. On the opposite half however hammer marks 

 are often distinctly visible. The subspherical pestle illustrated in figure 33 could 

 have been used both as hammer and burnisher. Its surfaces are streaked with 

 gold that in places is driven into the grain of the rock. 



The gold seems to be concentrated on the surfaces, forming a layer of brighter 

 yellow than the interior. This is true even where there is but little alloy. 

 Sometimes this outer coating is but little more than a superficial bloom. When 

 susceptible of measurement, it is found to be thicker in some places than in 

 others. A possible explanation of this rich coating may be found in a state- 

 ment by Acosta to the effect that the Indians of Santa Marta, on the north coast 

 of Colombia, " had much gold and copper, also gilt copper and the copper 

 was gilt by the use of the juice of a plant rubbed over it, then put into the fire, 

 when it took the gold color." Oviedo, " surveyor of the melting shops of King 

 Ferdinand" and Charles V, was the first to mention this process, Eden's trans- 

 lation l of his words being as follows : 



" And forasmuche as I haue spoken of golde, I haue thought good to declare 

 sumewhat howe the Indians can very excellently gylte suche vesselles of copper and 



1 The first three English books on America ; from the Latin of Peter Martyr of Anghiera ; 

 ed. by Edward Arber, 213, Birmingham, 1885. 



